1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for peeling and unrolling a leading end portion of a strip-like material wound in a roll shape, e.g., strip-like wrapping paper for wrapping cigarettes, and cutting an unnecessary portion of the leading end portion of the strip-like material to form a new leading end.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional device of this type, a device disclosed in Published Unexamined Japanese Utility Model Application No. 61-125298 is known.
This device is designed for a roll of strip-like paper having a leading end portion adhered to the roll.
This device comprises a chuck arranged below the roll. The chuck comprises a peeling lever, and a pawl segment incorporating with the peeling lever. The pawl segment is pivotally supported on the peeling lever through a pin, and is opened/closed to approach/separate from the peeling lever by an air cylinder mechanism and a return spring. The chuck can pick up the leading end portion of the strip-like paper of the roll to peel it from the roll as a free end portion, thereby allowing an unrolling operation of the strip-like paper from this roll.
A proximal end portion of the peeling lever is pivotally supported. The peeling lever approaches/separates from the peripheral surface of the roll when it is pivoted. The distal end of the peeling lever is formed sharp so as to pick up and peel the leading end portion of the strip-like paper from the peripheral surface of the roll. The sharp distal end of the peeling lever is brought into contact with the peripheral surface of the roll at a predetermined angle with respect to a tangential direction of the roll, thereby peeling the leading end portion of the strip-like paper adhered to the peripheral surface. However, when the diameter of the roll changes, the distal end portion of the peeling lever which is in contact with the peripheral surface of the roll may often fail to keep a precise predetermined angle with respect to the tangential direction of the peripheral surface of the roll. In this case, the sharp distal end portion of the peeling lever projects into the peripheral surface of the roll, and its operation is disturbed. In addition, the distal end portion may damage a portion of the strip-like paper wound in the roll.
A portion from the leading end portion of the strip-like paper wound in the roll by a certain length cannot be normally used due to contamination, damage, or the like. Such an unusable unnecessary portion which cannot be used must be cut and removed. In order to remove the unusable unnecessary portion, the device comprises a cutter unit. In a known device, a suction roller is arranged below a roll. The leading end portion of the strip-like paper which is peeled from the peripheral surface of the roller by the chuck as a free end is drawn by suction by the suction roller, and is fed to the cutter unit. In the conventional known device, however, the structure and operation of a mechanism for feeding the free leading end portion of the strip-like paper to the cutter unit are complex, and reliability of an operation is not assured.